Starbucks explores possible site in preliminary discussion

Posted
Friday, December 6, 2013 12:44 pm

Anna Boarini - Staff Writer

MANCHESTER - Is a new coffee shop headed to town? Equinox Square Associates is trying to bring a Starbucks to Manchester. The location of the proposed coffee house is 365 Depot Street. The site is presently occupied by Take Five, a drop-in daycare center. Formerly, a satellite office of the Berkshire Bank was in the location.

The developers came before the development review board Wednesday night to seek reactivation of the bank's drive-thru. This was formerly a 2 lane drive-thru, used in drive up banking. Starbucks would only use one lane, with a queuing capacity of 11 cars.

Kirk Moore, principal architect at BMA architects and planners, said the drive-thru will exit onto Center Hill Road. Cars would not be able turn back into the parking lot.

The presentation was a preliminary review, just seeking the reactivation of the drive-thru, said interim planning director Matt Daskal. An application for a change of use permit has not yet been filed. Equinox Square Associates will present that application at the next development review board meeting, Jan. 8, 2014.

The preliminary review by the DRB indicated that there were no major issues presented by the drive through should a formal application be filed and that it would not be a determining factor in any eventual decision the board might take.

TALK TO US

If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please
email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by
filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.

MANCHESTER — Philip Gilpin Jr. is thinking big, and his vision could open new opportunities for Manchester to market itself as an arts and culture destination.
The executive director of the International Television and Film Festival, …